GREENVILLE, S.C. – Bill Schmidt, the avuncular medical
director of the Greenville Health System Children’s Hospital, has been growing
the Children’s Hospital for nearly 25 years, developing it from a dream to an 185-physician
pediatric powerhouse that provides life-saving care to some of the sickest
children in a three-state area.

Now, he, wife Jean and their children have made a $1
million gift to create the Children’s Hospital Seed Fund for Advanced
Pediatrics, an endowment that will support what they call “big-leap-forward”
pediatric innovations.

“Our vision for this fund is nothing less than
making Children’s Hospital a leader in advanced pediatric care for the entire
Southeast,” said Dr. Schmidt. “Greenville has become a leader in the Southeast
in so many ways – why should the pediatric front be any different?”

Monday’s surprise announcement drew cheers and
applause from the crowd of physicians, employees and community members gathered
in the Children’s Hospital lobby. The Schmidts also received their own surprise
when told their gift had already been the catalyst for an anonymous $1 million
match from a Greenville family who was “proud of your legacy gift and deeply
appreciative to you … for your dedicated leadership in the last quarter century
building the GHS Children’s Hospital into a beacon of hope for children needing
the hospital’s services.”

“We are moved beyond words,” said Dr. Schmidt.

“Our prayer with this gift was to plant the first
seed in an ever-enlarging and dynamic field,” said Mrs. Schmidt. “We wanted
others to come along with us in the planting, to say ‘You know what, I want to
be part of that, too. I want to invest in kids.’ Whether it’s $2 or $2 million,
we hoped others will plant their own seeds in the fund, seeds for future
generations to add to and cultivate and water with the same intentions.”

“We cannot tell you how touched we are by this
initial response – and how much we hope that others in the community or GHS will
also help us move forward,” she said.

Said GHS CEO and President Mike Riordan, “For many
people – especially those gathered here today – Bill Schmidt is synonymous with
Children’s Hospital. What you may not know, however, is that Dr. Schmidt has been a long-time champion of children
across the entire region, helping develop programs and partnerships with
hospitals statewide in order to provide children and families the best care
possible. He’s also worked hard to improve children’s access to care statewide.
This kind of cooperative spirit is the heart and soul of the Schmidt family gift
and today’s matching pledge – and what they’re asking all of us to help do.
There’s no doubt in any of our minds that what we do here can make a tremendous
impact beyond ourselves.”

Decisions on how the money will specifically be used
will be decided as new breakthroughs occur and new leading-edge technologies
come available.

“Medicine is literally transforming around us, and I
can tell you from firsthand experience the impact those breakthroughs have had
on children,” said Dr. Schmidt, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist who has
seen survival rates for some cancers improve from 20 percent to now more than
90 percent. “And it’s not just cancer – we’re seeing huge breakthroughs in many
fields. We don’t want to invest in the status quo with the Seed Fund; we want
to invest in what comes next. We want our Children’s Hospital to be ready for
that next transformative leap.”

Added Mrs. Schmidt, “For us – and we think many others
– our real significance in life is found through investing in a purpose larger
than ourselves so that the meaning of our lives transcends our personal
boundaries and survives long after we ourselves are forgotten. We want to join
hands with the many, many folks today and in the future who care about kids and
want them to have the most advanced health care available.”

When Dr. Schmidt was recruited to GHS in 1990 to
develop the Upstate’s first Children’s Hospital, GHS had a small number of general
pediatricians and a handful of specialists. Today, GHS Children’s Hospital has 185
primary and specialty physicians and features nearly 40 pediatric specialties,
with its general pediatricians providing top primary care while its specialists
address more complex issues. Children’s Hospital and its practices had nearly
500,000 visits from infants, children and adolescents this year alone.

The Upstate’s only pediatric hospital recognized by
the national Children’s Hospital Association, GHS Children’s Hospital offers
leading-edge therapies while also promoting patient- and family-centered care
that personalizes, humanizes and demystifies the healthcare experience

Among its many specialty units and programs are the
state’s first 24-hour pediatric ER staffed entirely by pediatric specialists; the
Bryan Neonatal Intensive Care Unit which is the state’s largest NICU with approximately
80 beds; the pediatric intensive care unit, the BI-LO Charities Children’s
Cancer Center and the Upstate’s only neuro-oncology program; a nationally
recognized gastroenterology program and the Gardner Family Center for
Developing Minds, a developmental-behavioral pediatrics center that features one
of the most advanced autism programs in the nation.

For more information
on the Children’s Hospital Seed Fund for Advanced Pediatrics, visit seed

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